Tilla

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Issac Westburg

The band Tilla.

Tilla

media release: The University of Wisconsin-Madison Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI) welcomes Tilla, a band led by musician and writer Taylor C. Scott from Monday, April 8 through Saturday, April 13, as our final Hip-Hop Artist in Residency series, in partnership with UW-Madison Communication Arts Department, the African Studies Program, Latin American, Caribbean & Iberian Studies (LACIS), the Havens Wright Center for Social Justice of the Department of Sociology, Bolz Center for Arts Administration, Café  Coda, Middleton High School, Mt. Zion Baptist Church, and the Division of the Arts.

April 8: Welcome Reception at Cafe Coda1224 Williamson St, 6:00-8:00 pm: Join us as we celebrate the beginning of Taylor Scott’s residency. The first 20 attendees will receive a drink ticket. Free refreshments. A cash bar will be available.  To reserve a free ticket to this reception and performance, click here .

About the Artist:

Taylor C. Scott currently serves as the 2023-2024 Poet Laureate for East Baton Rouge Parish. She is also an Assistant Professor of English at Southern University where she teaches African American Literature.  In 2022, she graduated from Louisiana State University with her doctorate in English. 

The band Tilla formed after Taylor C. Scott (lead vocal) and Nathan France (producer, sax player) organized a writing retreat in New Orleans in early 2022. While the band shapeshifts for each project and performance, its core members include Eric Newble (lead vocal), Morgan Ryser (pianist), Evan Ryser (vocalist), Andy Jones (bass), Quinn Jacobson (guitar), and Jalen McCullough (drums).

Their songs layer thoughtful lyricism with timeless analog sensibilities and contemporary electronic innovations. Their work blends and bends genres and conventions by stretching across Blues, Soul, R&B, Dance, Jazz, and Gospel. Last summer, Tilla released their debut EP, ‘Term of Endearment’ (2023), which is filled to the brim with spirit, character, care, happy accidents, and so much more. The band’s distinct multi-vocal harmonies engage audiences in an intimate encounter where the song is the room. 

Following OMAI’s 2022-23 partnership with the Division of the Arts’ Interdisciplinary Artist Residency Program (IARP), the Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement (DDEEA) has continued support for a new initiative in celebration of Hip Hop’s 50th anniversary: the Hip Hop Arts Residency Program (HHARP). 

HHARP has taken place five (5) times per academic year, over the course of 4-10 days. Each residency features a professional artist whose work represents Hip Hop and/or urban art culture, with notable accomplishments in their field nationally and internationally. All residencies center Hip Hop and urban arts through academic, campus, and community engagement, providing spaces for interdisciplinary and intergenerational interactions. The residencies will coincide with OMAI’s existing initiatives, such as Just Bust! Open Mic Series, Passing the Mic Intergenerational Hip Hop Theater Festival, Line Breaks Hip Hop Theater Festival, and others. This strategic scheduling will deepen the impact of OMAI’s visiting artists beyond the First Wave Program, offering high-impact engagement with campus and local partners.

OMAI is excited to welcome Tilla, a band led by UW-Madison and First Wave alumna of the 5th Cohort, Taylor C. Scott, as a part of the 17th Annual Line Breaks Hip Hop Theater Festival, performing on April 13

“This residency feels like coming home,” shares Scott. “As a Louisiana-based artist, I am thankful that I get to share this experience with my artistic collaborators living in Madison. We get to bring months of intensive creative processes to the very community that has nurtured our collective growth.” 

"It is truly an exceptional opportunity for our students," shares Professor Sara McKinnon, professor of rhetoric, politics & culture in the Department of Communication Arts, and Faculty Director of Latin American, Caribbean & Iberian Studies. "I am asked frequently by graduate and undergraduate students about what it means to blend scholarship, art ,and activism in one's work. No one does this better than Dr. Taylor Scott. Across an impressive array of modalities and genres, she captures clearly and communicates deeply about the affective dimensions of Black life and experience in the United States. Her scholarship does this, as does her poetry and music, and work in the community. As a bonus, Dr. Scott is a gifted instructor. UW-Madison students will benefit greatly from the mentorship and teaching she will provide on campus during this residency. Her time on campus will demonstrate the magic that can happen when impactful badgers return to their Madison home to foster the greatness of a new badger generation"

OMAI’s Line Breaks Hip Hop Theater Festival consists of performances, lectures and discussions by First Wave artist-scholars and invited professional artists engaging with the Madison community, on and off campus. Line Breaks brings the top new aesthetics in contemporary Hip Hop and interdisciplinary performance art to the UW–Madison campus and the surrounding community. It has evolved into a space for the investigation of contemporary American culture through the lens of Hip Hop performance. Line Breaks is now one of the largest hip-hop-centered performance festivals in the Midwest and continues to be a space for the cultivation and presentation of independent and collaborative work by First Wave artist-scholars. 

Please join us at the 17th Annual Line Breaks Festival in Overture Center’s Promenade Hall as we host Tilla, led by Taylor C. Scott and celebrate the students of the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives.  Sign up here to stay updated on UW-Madison’s inaugural short-term HHARP residencies – including information on the series artists, events, and campus engagements.